I evidently struck a nerve with Met fans

Yesterday I posted a tongue in cheek Sully Baseball entry where I tried to figure out better ways for the Mets to spend $18 million other than paying Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez to play elsewhere.

Yeah it was sarcastic and not 100% serious... and the result (partially thanks to links on Mets Blog and Amazin' Avenue) was I had more visitors in a single day to Sully Baseball than any other day in my existence. WOO HOO!

And by the comments and e mails I received, most of them were Met fans who now hate me.

I must say, Met fans can be kind of sensitive. It could be the fact that they are surrounded by Red Sox, Yankee and Met fans who have all had a World Series title to celebrate since Carlos Beltran saw that called third strike.

It could be the collapses of 2007 and 2008 and the Madoff scandal and the losing teams with an elite payroll have taken away their sense of humor.

Later tonight I will address my favorite comments I received.

Whatever you do, when a team with a top 5 payroll coming off of back to back losing seasons that virtually nobody is picking to have a .500 season is involved in one of the great financial scandals in decades, NEVER insinuate that they are poorly run!

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Tom Henke was not a Hall of Famer… but he could have been - My Latest for The Hardball Times

In my latest for The Hardball Times, I wrote about the Toronto reliever known as The Terminator.

Tom Henke was the top reliever in the National League in 1995 and then retired. If he stuck around and piled up some stats, we might be talking about him for the Hall of Fame.

Read the whole article here.

A tip for the Mets… 10 better ways to spend $18 million

The Mets will have the 5th highest payroll in baseball and will probably lose 90 games in 2011, ergo they aren’t spending their money wisely.

A case in point, the Mets are paying Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo a combined $18 million to NOT play for them this year. Good money in a recession.

The staff at Sully Baseball can’t claim to be an economic think tank, but here are some helpful suggestions to what could be a better use of $18 million than spending it on Castillo and Perez.

BUY ALL 8 MILLION PEOPLE IN NEW YORK 2 PACKS OF GUM

For a few days, everyone in New York will have no excuse for bad breath.

SPONSOR 36,000 LITTLE LEAGUE TEAMS

At least the Mets will be paying them to PLAY!

GO TO A ROULETTE TABLE AND SAY “$18 MILLION ON RED!”

The odds of that money going completely to waste went down by 50%!

ERASE THE DEFICIT FOR NEW YORK CITY SCHOOL LUNCHES

Right now the $8 million deficit in the school lunch program is threatening some schools for cutting lunch all together. Pick up the tab on that and maybe spend the extra $10 million on something more nutritious than tater tots.

BUY 1,285,714 COPIES OF I’LL BELIEVE YOU ON AMAZON

Seeing the Indie film I directed become profitable is a much better story than paying for two players to go away. At least it is a better story for me.

DONATE $50,750 TO EACH PBS STATION

Maybe they spin it into “Tote Bag Night” or “Prime Suspect DVD Night” at CitiField.

HELP THE BUNNY WORLD FOUNDATION
SPAY OR NEUTER 1,800,000 RABBITS

Or are YOU going to take care of all of those bunnies?

BUY 818,181 CHOCOLATE COOKIE GIFT BOXES FROM THE LEVAIN BAKERY

Seriously, have you had one of the cookies from the Levain Bakery? They are so much more satisfying than anything Oliver Perez has done in a Mets uniform.

TURN 125 NEW YORK TEENS INTO MBA GRADUATES

Let’s say the Mets found 125 smart teenagers in New York public schools who couldn’t afford college. They pay for four years of Brooklyn College for all 125 (including student housing.) Then after they all get their Bachelors degrees, they pay their way through the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College. By 2018, they will have 125 young minds with MBAs and inevitably ONE of them would be able give the Mets some sound business advice. (How could they be worse than the financial wizards who put them into this mess!)

THROW 18 MILLION ONE DOLLAR BILLS INTO THE HUDSON RIVER

Who knows? Some might float back to them.

LISTEN TO THE SULLY BASEBALL SHOW...

This week featuring Don Rosler talking about "Doris from Rego Park"

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Fantasy Baseball Advice: PICK UP LUIS CASTILLO

The flaming dirigible known as the New York Mets are starting to chuck out live bodies before the carnage continues.

Luis Castillo, best known for dropping a potential game ending pop up against the Yankees, has been cut. Still owed $6 million, the Mets realized that they are better using that money to pay him to play elsewhere. (More money wisely spent by the Mets!)

They couldn't even trade him away in one of my trash for trash deals.

And now, with Chase Utley hurt, it looks like Castillo is going to be picked up by the rival Phillies.

Pick him up!
Yes, I know he was HORRIBLE last year. That's not the point. He's only a year removed from being a .300 hitter with 20 stolen bases. But he is also a two time former World Series champ (with the Marlins) and a former Gold Glover and All Star who was just humiliated.

Revenge is a wonderful motivating factor.
So is inflicting humiliation. The idea of picking up a pay check every two weeks from the Mets while helping the Phillies back to the World Series could lead Castillo to a career season!

If he has one more good season in him, he is going to dig down and shove it in the Mets face.
And if and when that happens, he might as well help your Fantasy Baseball team.

What exactly am I supposed to say about the Barry Bonds trial?

I have received a bunch of e mails in the last few days asking me what my thoughts are on the Barry Bonds trial.

They are very similar to my thoughts on the current season of American Idol.

I am aware that it is happening, but I couldn't possibly care less. I don't even know the details of either one. I know Steven Tyler is a judge... but I am not sure if it is for Idol or the Bonds trial.

Both Idol and Bonds are similar in another way. They used to be big parts of my life. I was a big Barry Bonds fan for the Pirates and the Giants.

And I defended him on this blog a bunch of times.
But after he passed Hank Aaron, there was nothing left to watch.

And in case you missed it, the Giants had a good year last year without him.

And I used to be an Idol addict... then they screwed over Melinda Doolittle, Adam Lambert and Crystal Bowersox and then Simon left. What was the point of watching?

When I read today that they were playing voicemails to his mistress as proof that he had 'roid rage, I said "Oh man, this is going to be thrown out of court." The pitchers who kept intentionally walking him over the years had a more courageous game plan.

Look folks... you may not like Barry Bonds, but there are three things you can not deny:

He was a great player no matter what he injected into his ass.
He is a hell of a lot smarter than Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro who stepped on some legal landmines
He has a great friend in Greg Anderson.

And if you don't like Bonds, he's gone. He's no longer playing. He's part of an era that if it isn't over, it is damn near over.

Imagine yourself in the 1920s looking at he Dead Ball era... or in the 1960s with a higher mound looking at the big home run totals from a few years before.

Or someone watching games now in the retroballparks looking back at the cookie cutter multipurpose stadiums with the Astroturf.

If you don't like Bonds, that's what he should be to you.
In the past and something you'd rather not think about.

There are already new stars and new hope for the game. If you are a Bonds hater, then ignore the trial.

And if you are expecting some great legal drama, then watch The Good Wife.

But there's nothing going on in that court room.

Let's get back to baseball.

REALLY San Jose Sharks?

Look, I like the Sharks. They are my hockey team.
And yes, I realize that this is a NHL wide promotion.

But seeing that I have clicked on a few Sharks websites, this gem landed in my mail box.

The PRIDE of Ireland?

As a man who has some Irish blood in him, I don't recall hearing stories of my ancestors coming over on the boat, being conscripted into the Civil War, building the railways and working their way up the New England working class singing songs about the old country and Joe Thornton.

Seriously... The Celtics? The Notre Dame Fighting Irish? I'll listen.

The Sharks?
Their color isn't even green!

It is teal, which is bluish green.

That being said, this Irish American says Go Sharks (but not for any ethnic pride.)

The Rangers shouldn't trade Michael Young - My latest for The Hardball Times

In my latest article for The Hardball Times, I talk about Michael Young. Yeah he seems mad and he should be. And sure it would appear to be the classy move for the Rangers to find him a new home.

But they shouldn't. A spot in the infield will open up for him and there is no way Texas will get equal value. Everyone should just count to 10 and by the end of the season, everyone will be laughing and saying "Remember when the Rangers were going to TRADE Young?"

You can read the article HERE.

A suggestion for MASN and the Hagerstown Suns

The Washington Nationals announced that they will be sending potential star Bryce Harper to the Class A Hagerstown Suns. And with this turn of events, let me make two big suggestions, first to MASN, the sports cable network that covers the Nats and to Harper's new team in Hagerstown MD.

MASN... forget the Nats and only broadcast Suns games this year.

Seriously, the Nationals aren't going to win much this year. They have an outside shot at .500, but even if the Phillies disappoint, the Braves and the Marlins are also looking good.

So if you are a die hard Nationals fan, you are more interested in the progress of two players: Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper. Now watching Strasburg rehab isn't good TV... but watching Harper with the Suns would be.

The Suns are only an hour and a half outside of Washington DC. They can send Bob Carpenter, F. P. Santangelo et al to cover the Suns.

Let's face it, during a Nationals game, it will be much more interesting to see Harper hit a homer than see the Nationals play out the string.

So reverse it! During a Suns game, occasionally break in and say "Let's get an update from the parent club."

Hagerstown Suns... get your souvenir store on line! NOW!

When I saw Harper was heading to Hagerstown, I went to the Suns website to see what souvenirs they had at their on line store.

I wasn't going to buy anything, but I am guessing that Harper's arrival will be the best thing to ever happen to Suns merchandise. Harper will no doubt be the biggest player to ever play as a member of the Suns.

Now of course I know some big time major leaguers played for the Suns at one point or another (including Hall of Famer Jim Palmer) but nobody with the hype and the preseason anticipation as Harper.

So I clicked on it wondering if they already had their Harper replica uniforms ready to sell.
After all, the Nationals weren't going to send the 18 year old Harper to AA Harrisburg. And the GCL team and the Auburn Doubledays don't start until June.

So the only two places where Harper would wind up would be either Hagerstown or Potomac. So they would be prepared for the big day, right?

Here's what was on the Hagerstown Suns official website under "Store" as of this writing.

An e mail address and a phone number.
That's it.

A player getting national attention (pun intended) will be making his grand entrance to pro baseball (Arizonal Fall League doesn't count) with the Suns and the team doesn't have an on line store?

No place for people to click on to buy a hat, a jersey, a t shirt?

This is 2011! And Hagerstown isn't an obscure village off the coast of El Salvador. It is a city that is an and hour and a half from Washington DC and Baltimore and less than 3 hours from Penn State University.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say they may be one person in any of those places who could set up a web page to sell merchandise.

How long will Harper even be a Sun? If he tears up the Sally League then he will be off to Potomac before you can say "Bobble Head Night."

And how many times will the Hagerstown Suns be in the NATIONAL news?
Today and when he makes his debut.

So the Suns have blown 50% of the best chances to sell the most merchandise in the history of the team.

Good job.

Here's a tip for any member of the Hagerstown Suns reading this.
Stop reading blogs and go find someone to fix your damn website!

I am not an MBA, but I think you just blew a shot to make some serious cash.

Get to work.

The Batting Stance Guy's new video... MLB Experts on Babe Ruth

Hey Tigers! Spend a million bucks on a baby sitter for Miguel Cabrera

As details of Miguel Cabrera's DUI become even sadder and more pathetic than we originally thought, it is becoming clear that the Tigers need to make one more pick up for the 2011 season and beyond.

The need a big huge intimidating guy on the payroll to constantly shadow Miguel Cabrera. He has to make sure he gets from the ballpark back to his home or hotel and make sure he STAYS THERE.

Miguel is 6'4" and over 240 pounds. He is no little man. So they will need to get a BIG guy. I am talking about a super huge scary guy. Richard Kiel huge and scary.

But they have to do it.
Cabrera is signed through 2015. And if healthy and sober, he is arguably the best player in the American League... or at least in the conversation.

And with 4 or 5 MVP caliber seasons and a World Series ring already on his resume at age 27, he might be putting together the first half of a Hall of Fame career.

However if he spirals, then not only will he become a sad foot note or a cautionary tale of how addiction can destroy greatness.

And more practically for the Tigers, his contract could be an immovable albatross that hamstrings Detroit for the next 5 seasons, which they don't want.

Or the Tigers will find a way to void the contract... and Miguel doesn't want to lose $100 million. Would you?

So seriously, for a million bucks, I am sure the Tigers could find a quality big guy to scare the tar out of Miguel.

A million bucks doesn't pay for a decent left handed reliever anymore. But in THIS economy, it would be a good gig for someone to just make sure Cabrera isn't going somewhere he shouldn't.

Last year the Tigers spent more than a million bucks to have Adam Everett last year and he managed to bat .185 over 31 games.

Making sure their MVP candidate stays out of trouble would be a much better use for a million bucks, wouldn't you say so?

How Josh Beckett and the Star Trek films mirror each other

Josh Beckett’s tenure with the Red Sox is in sync with the quality of the Star Trek movies. Don’t believe me? Don’t understand me?

Follow along… it is logical.

Josh Beckett’s first season in Boston (2006)
mirrored Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Both were eagerly anticipated by fans:

Red Sox fans were getting the 2003 World Series MVP who conquered the Yankees.

Star Trek fans were getting to return to the Enterprise for the first time in more than a decade.


Both were trying to recreate a success from 2 years before:
The Red Sox needed an ace to fill Pedro Martinez’s shoes and replicate the 2004 World Championship.

Paramount needed a science fiction blockbuster in 1979 to answer the staggering success of Star Wars.

Both were incredibly expensive:
Beckett cost the Red Sox budding superstar Hanley Ramirez, a good pitcher in Anibal Sanchez and a big fat $30 million contract extension.

Star Trek The Motion Picture was, at the time, the most expensive movie ever produced. It’s price tag was around $45 million.

Both were initially big let downs:
Beckett let up way too many homers, his ERA soared to 5.01 and Red Sox fans shook their heads. “This is NOT what we wanted in an ace.”

Star Trek The Motion Picture lumbered along with a not exactly action packed plot. And the flight through V’Ger was the longest and most dull special effects sequence in history, rivaled only by the laborious introduction of the Enterprise.

Both had some decent numbers, but not what was expected:
Beckett won 16 games and pitched over 200 innings, which would be fine for most pitchers. But for Pedro Martinez’s replacement, it was a let down.

Star Trek The Motion Picture grossed over $130 million world wide and made $30 million in profits for Paramount. Impressive, but not even close to Star Wars.


Both had, in retrospect, some bright spots:
Beckett pitched brilliantly out of the gate, winning his first three starts convincingly. He homered in a game against the Phillies. And on September 21, in his second to last start of the season, he out pitched Johan Santana in a game where the Twins were trying to take over the Division lead. Beckett went 8 innings of shutout ball.

There are some cool scenes in Star Trek The Motion Picture. The Klingons attacking the V’Ger cloud at the opening was neat. Spock’s spacewalk and mindmeld with V’Ger was a cool scene. And in retrospect, the film plays like a very good episode that happened to have some overlong special effects sequences shoved into it.

Josh Beckett’s second season in Boston (2007)
mirrored Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Both addressed what went wrong before:
Beckett stopped relying on his fastball and learned how to pitch in the American League with his breaking stuff and location. And along the way reduced the walks and homers that plagued his 2006 season.

For Star Trek II, they brought in a whole new creative cast and crew. And (get ready for some blasphemy) removing Gene Roddenberry in favor of Harve Bennet was the best thing to ever happen to Star Trek! The Wrath of Khan acted like Star Trek The Motion Picture didn’t even happen. It picked the story up with Kirk wanting the Enterprise back and, unlike the first movie, acknowledged the fact that the cast was old. Now the age of Kirk was no longer a distraction but part of the story and it worked big time.

Both obliterated all of the earlier doubts:
Beckett’s 2006 made people wonder if he was yet another National League pitcher who couldn’t make it in the American League. And some people started pointing out that his regular season stats weren’t exactly eye popping. Nobody was saying that after 2007.

Critics wondered if Star Trek was just a TV show that couldn’t translate to the big screen. I mean if they couldn’t make it work with a big budget and Robert Wise directing, what chance did it have? The new producers, writers and director solved that!

Both were so much better than anyone could have imagined:
Beckett was hoping for a good rebound season. What he got was a Cy Young caliber season where he played the role of ace and etched his name into Red Sox lore.

The Wrath of Khan became the gold standard of every Star Trek movie and episode since. It was more than a good Star Trek movie. It was a good MOVIE. Even non Trekkies (or Trekkers) admit that it is a heck of a good sci fi action film.


Both had a cool bad ass quality:
Beckett didn’t just win. He won with an unmistakable swagger and he was unflappable. Remember how the Red Sox were down 3-1 in the ALCS and Beckett had to save the season? He not only won, but he barely broke a sweat. The Indians hired his ex girlfriend to sing the national anthem. He didn’t care. Kenny Lofton tried to charge the mound, and Beckett shrugged. Nothing phased him.

Think Star Trek is nerdy? Check out Riccardo Montalban as Khan, chest out and out hamming William Shatner. There was nothing dorky about dropping creatures into Chekov’s ear. And Kirk was at his coolest, out smarting Khan and finding out he was a dad. Even Spock showed a unflappable side, lying in one scene taking one for the team at the end. The Enterprise was never cooler.

It just kept betting better:
Beckett just kept winning. On September 15th he faced off against the Yankees supposed ace Chien-Ming Wang and won easily. He opened the Division Series with a complete game shutout of the Angels. Won the ALCS MVP and probably would have been the World Series MVP if he got another start.

Wrath of Khan kept topping itself. The Khan sneak attack. The Genesis planet. Kirk screaming Khaaaaaaaan! The battle in the Nebula. And just when the film couldn’t get any better, Spock had a death scene. Are you kidding me?

The ending was not delivered goose bumps but promised more greatness:
Beckett won the opener of the World Series and set the tone for the Red Sox sweep. When they won, it felt different than 2004. There was the possibility of more titles on the way.

Wrath of Khan ended with the funeral of Spock. But then the camera swooped down to the Genesis planet with all new life forming from death… AND SPOCK’S COFFIN WAS INTACT! And the “Space The Final Frontier” monologue was said by Spock, not Kirk. You know what that means: There was going to be an awesome sequel with Spock in it!

Josh Beckett’s third season in Boston (2008)
mirrored Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

Both had an impossible act to follow:
How could Beckett top his near Cy Young winning 2007 season where he built on his reputation of being an all time Post Season pitcher? He couldn’t.

Could The Search for Spock even come close to the awesome roller coaster that was Wrath of Khan? Nope.

Both seemed like hollow facsimiles of the previous triumph:
Beckett got some big wins to be sure. But he hovered around .500 around most of the season and his ERA hovered around 4.00. Not bad, but not great.

There were some nice scenes in The Search for Spock. But Christopher Lloyd was a poor man’s Khan. And destroying the Enterprise and killing Kirk’s son just didn’t hold a candle to Spock’s sacrifice.

Both saved the best for last:
Despite some bad outings against the Angels and Rays in the playoffs, Beckett won Game 6 forcing the ALCS to go the limit. It didn’t have the cool ending as 2007, but Beckett did his job at the end.

The Search for Spock felt a little cheap and slapped together after Wrath of Khan. But the finale on Vulcan and Spock raising his eyebrow was a great ending.

Josh Beckett’s fourth season in Boston (2009)
mirrored Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Both were fun if a little light and less ambitious:
Beckett won a bunch of games including a terrific opening day start against the Rays and a complete game shutout against the Braves. He also showed his fire was there when he threw at Bobby Abreu’s head and got suspended. The Angels got revenge by beating Beckett in the playoffs.

The Voyage Home had no intention of topping Wrath of Khan. There was no bad guy and no great sacrifice. There were funny scenes in San Francisco and a save the whales message. It was the big screen equivalent of The Trouble with Tribbles.

Both were a nice return to form:
While he didn’t dominate in the playoffs, Beckett became an All Star starter and along side Jon Lester, it looked like the Red Sox had their aces back.

The Voyage Home was no Wrath of Khan. But all the crew was back and in uniform. Rand and Chapel had cameos. Even Spock’s mom showed up to say hello. And at the end, a new Enterprise was introduced meaning that the series was going to get a fresh start.

Josh Beckett’s fifth season in Boston (2010)
mirrored Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Both looked bad right from the beginning:
Beckett started the season against the Yankees got clobbered, being chased in the 5th inning. He looked bad and it wasn’t going to get better.

The Final Frontier opened with Spock, McCoy and Kirk singing "Row Row Row your boat" around a camp fire. It was worse than embarrassing. It was Mystery Science Theater material.

Both tried but failed to fix things in mid stream:
Beckett sat out a start in May before getting his butt kicked by the Yankees again. He was put on the disabled list after the Yankee start. But when he came back, he was dreadful, watching his ERA rising to 6.67 in mid August.

The Final Frontier went through so many different script changes and reedits that I am convinced that none of the actors knew what the plot was from scene to scene.

Both were so bad that you wondered if there was any hope for the future:
Forget being an ace. A 30 year old pitcher going 6-6 with a 5.78 ERA could be filed in the “he’s done” bin.

With the incomprehensible ending on the God planet, a return to the camp fire and a fat and old cast, the idea of another Star Trek voyage seemed unlikely.
Both made you think “better leave it to the next generation”:

Beckett was no longer the ace. Buchholz and Lester had that title. Should Beckett step down and give the Michael Bowden and Felix Doubronts of the world a shot?

Kirk, Spock and McCoy? By 1989 they should leave the “boldly going” to Piccard and company.



So where does this leave Beckett for 2011?

The good news is that Star Trek VI was the best written film of the series other than Wrath of Khan and gave the crew a great send off. So things look good for the Sox and Beckett.

Bad news is the NEXT Star Trek film, Generations, blew a great chance to have Kirk and Piccard team up. The film was a mess. Which means Beckett will probably flop in 2012.

However Star Trek: First Contact was a terrific and fun film. The Borg on the big screen? Awesome. Which bodes well for Beckett and the Sox in 2013.

The last year of Beckett’s contract is 2014. Sadly Star Trek: Insurrection was so forgettable that I forgot I saw it while I was in the theater. Doesn’t look good for Beckett that year.

And if a team signs him for 2015, bad news. I couldn’t finish Star Trek: Nemesis. I am guessing Beckett won’t finish that season.

A ray of hope for 2016? The Star Trek reboot wasn’t bad. Maybe he’ll finish in style.


Live long and prosper, Josh Beckett.

(How often can I combine two different childhood obsessions into one post?)

Maybe Josh Beckett should have been hit in the head LAST year!

Yeah, I know it is Spring Training and you have to take Grapefruit League stats with a grain of salt. That being said, it IS encouraging that he looked so sharp after getting clocked in the melon.

Maybe if someone clocked him in the head last season, he could have been better than 6-6 with a 5.78 ERA.

Either way, the Red Sox need to have Buchholz and Lester continue to pitch like they did last year and Beckett needs to be 2007 and 2009 Beckett and NOT 2006, 2008 and 2010 Beckett.

A clock to the head might do the trick.

Doris from Rego Park by Don Rosler

As a former WFAN addict and as someone who for nearly 15 years went to sleep to either Steve Somers or Joe Beningo in the overnight show, I used to love hearing Doris from Rego Park call in almost every single night.

Doris is no longer with us and the build up to the Mets season lost a little but of its heart.

I wonder what Doris would have thought about her obit in the New York Times and her posthumous tributes.

This song from Don Rosler sums up what we all loved about Doris.

Red State Strategy - My latest for The Hardball Times

In my latest for The Hardball Times, I take a look at the 2011 Cincinnati Reds' unique combination of talent, tradition and geography and wonder... could they create their own TV network and become a big market franchise?

It's not as crazy an idea as you would think.

Read the whole article HERE.

Enjoy the face of Yankee fandom

WINNING!

Suddenly Ben Affleck isn't looking like such a bad spokesman for Red Sox nation.

Lisa Swan has aired her opinion on Subway Squawkers...
But I have a different take.

I would love to have Charlie Sheen as a guest on my podcast. And I will just talk baseball. No questions about drugs, porn stars, Two and a Half Men, rants whatever.

Just talking baseball.

I wonder if that will happen.

Lisa Swan joins The Sully Baseball Show

Lisa Swan, co writer of Subway Squawkers, my favorite baseball blog, joins me on The Sully Baseball Show.

We will talk Red Sox/Yankees and thank our lucky stars that we are not Mets fans.

We begin at the second hour of the Seamheads Radio block.

Click below to hear the show.

Listen to internet radio with Seamheads on Blog Talk Radio

Whats on Second The Seamheads.com Radio Hour/The Sully Baseball Show 2/21/2011 - Seamheads.com | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio

Sully Baseball Salutes... Jimmie Wilson

Jimmie Wilson was a two sport star who became a World Series hero because of bizarre and tragic circumstances.

Chances are you never heard of Jimmie Wilson, the former Cardinals and Phillies catcher. I never heard of him until I stumbled across his story while compiling my latest 25 Man Roster. But he lived a unique albeit brief life that is worth a salute here at Sully Baseball.

The player who was nicknamed "Ace" was a native of Philadelphia and the son of Scottish immigrants. He dropped out of high school to work and by 19 went pro... in soccer.

When I read that, I had the same reaction that you probably had. "They had pro soccer teams in America in the 1910s and 1920s?" Yup, evidently they did.

And here I was thinking that they never played the game in America until Pele joined the Cosmos!

He excelled in soccer, playing for several different leagues, mainly for Philadelphia teams. In 1922, he played in the National Challenge Cup but failed to make it to the Quarterfinals. The tournament is now called The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. I had no idea that playoff is nearly 100 years old.

(Man, soccer sure is taking its sweet time catching on in America!)

He was a two sport player, playing minor league baseball as well. By 1923, the 23 year old Wilson focused solely on baseball and began playing for his hometown Phillies.

The 1923 Phillies were a 104 loss dog of a team who drew less than 3,000 a game. Not 30,000... 3,000.

The Phillies remained terrible between 1923 and 1928. But Wilson hit well his first year and by 1925, had developed into a .328 hitting part time catcher.

During the 1928 season, he was paroled from the purgatory of The Baker Bowl and the Phillies and was dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals. The trade occured during a game between the two teams. He supposedly started the game as a Phillie, was taken out and watched the rest in the St. Louis dugout in his new uniform.

As a Cardinal, he became teammates with future Hall of Famers Rabbit Maranville, Jesse Haines, Chick Hafey, Jim Bottomley, Frankie Frisch and Grover Cleveland Alexander.

He was no longer on a team tumbling towards 100 losses. Now he was on a contender who would go on to win the pennant by 2 games over the Giants.

In the 1928 World Series, the Cardinals were manhandled by the Yankees. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig combined for 7 home runs in the 4 game sweep.

Wilson was held to a 1-11 series. He did get an RBI double in game 2, but the Cardinals were overmatched. But Wilson was now on a contender.

He developed into one of the best all around catchers in the National League, finishing 6th in the 1931 MVP vote and being selected to the 1933 All Star team.

And he played in the 1930 and 1931 World Series for St. Louis. In the '31 Series, he helped defeat the other home town team of his youth, the Philadelphia A's, as the Cardinals won the World Series.

After the 1933 season, he returned home to Philadelphia to be the player and manager of the Phillies. It was a disaster. The Phillies finished either last or just out of last place each year he was manager, losing 100 games in 1936. He lasted 5 seasons in control of the Phillies before being let go.

In 1939 Bill McKechnie, his former manager in St. Louis, brought him to Cincinnati where he became a player coach. Wilson only appeared in 4 games as a player as future Hall of Famer Ernie Lombardi was the catcher. The Reds won the 1939 pennant but were swept by the Yankees in the World Series.

In 1940, Wilson's playing days looked to be over as he became a full time coach.

Lombardi had an good backup named Willard Hershberger, a former Yankee farmhand who developed into a solid, if light hitting catcher.

Hershberger was a star football player in high school making him, like Wilson, a two sport star. He also seemed to have deep emotional issues stemming from a family tragedy. His father went broke in 1928, predating the crash, and shot himself in the head. An 18 year old Willard discovered the body shortly before he began his professional career.

It took Hershberger 8 years to make the majors but made himself a .300 batter. He was stuck behind a Hall of Famer in Bill Dickey while in the Yankee system and behind Lombardi with the Reds. A finger injury kept Lombardi out of the lineup for a stretch in 1940. Hershberger stepped in ably.

However when the Reds went on a 3 game losing streak in late July, Hershberger put the blame on himself. He felt like his team was blaming him as well and spoke to manager Bill McKechnie about killing himself like his father did.

The two had a private meeting after a game in Boston against the Bees (aka the Braves.) McKechnie seemed to have calmed his fragile catcher down and gave him the day off to collect himself. On August 3rd, Hershberger said he was going to go to the park even if he didn't play, but he never showed up to Braves Field.

Gabe Paul, the Reds' traveling secretary who would later build the great Yankee teams of the 1970s, went to the hotel to check if Hershberger was alright. He found Hershberger dead in his bathtub, having slashed his own throat.

Willard Hershberger became the first, and so far only, major leaguer to commit suicide during the season.

The death stunned the Reds emotionally and put them in a bind in terms of personnel. Third string catcher Bill Baker filled in and Ernie Lombardi came back quickly from his injury.

Jimmie Wilson stepped down as a coach and was activated to catch less than two weeks after Hershberger's death. He started 8 games down the stretch but needed to spell Lombardi in the 1940 World Series against the Tigers.

He started 6 of the 7 games of the World Series, batting .353 in the process.

Wilson singled and scored in the Reds Game 2 win. In game 6 with the Reds on the verge of elimination, Wilson singled and scored a critical insurance run in the 4-0 victory. And in the come from behind 2-1 Game 7 triumph, Wilson collected 2 hits and caught Paul Derringer's complete game victory.

The Reds won the 1940 World Series, their first title since the 1919 Series, the same one where the White Sox took a dive.

It was the last game Wilson ever played in. The team dedicated the World Series victory to "Hershie" and gave Willard Hersberger's mother a World Series share.

The next year Wilson took over the Cubs as manager but had little success. He began growing oranges in Florida when he dropped dead of a heart attack in 1947 at the age of 46.

About a decade later, Ernie Lombardi suffered from intense depression and harbored thoughts of suicide. But unlike his backup, he recovered and lived another two decades.

The 1940 Reds were the only Cincinnati team to win the World Series between the Black Sox scandal and the rise of The Big Red Machine. And Jimmie Wilson coming off of the bench to help heal a great tragedy was a big part of that title.

That's worth a salute.

Tim Wakefield and Miguel Batista... last relics of Pittsburgh glory

Tim Wakefield is back in camp with the Red Sox. This will be his 19th big league season (he spent 1994 in the minors) and potentially his 17th with the Boston Red Sox. He is only 13 wins behind Cy Young and Roger Clemens for the all time Red Sox team mark.

Miguel Batista is still hanging in there as a big league pitcher. He had a solid season as a reliever for the Washington Nationals in 2010 and is trying to make it with the St. Louis Cardinals. They have another slot open on their staff with the injury to Adam Wainwright. And with Dave Duncan as the pitching coach, the former Diamondback starter could wind up winning 15 games this year.

Wakes and Batista are linked in a unique way.
Unless my research is faulty, they could be the only current players in 2011 who can say that that they played for a Pirates team that had a winning season.

Of course the Pirates have not reached the Himalaya known as .500 since Sid Bream scored on Francisco Cabrera's single in 1992.

And the link to any winning baseball on the field is getting more and more faint.
Of course Tim Wakefield was a rookie on the 1992 NL East Champion Pirates. He threw 2 complete game victories in the NLCS and would probably have been the MVP of the series had Cabrera popped up.

Batista? He was a Rule 5 draftee from the Montreal Expos in 1992. He appeared in a grand total of one game for the Defending Division Champion Pirates. On April 11, he came in to relieve Doug Drabek in the 7th inning. He let up a home run to Ruben Amaro.

He was returned to the Expos organization. The Pirates would go on to win the Division.

How long has it been? He let up a homer to Amaro, who is now the general manager of the Phillies. Who did Amaro trade a few years ago? KYLE Drabek, the son of the pitcher Batista relieved. So literally an entire generation has come and gone since the Pirates reached the heights of mediocrity.

I have a soft spot in my heart for the Pirates. I would love to see them be winners.
The players who have experienced that sensation? Down to a precious few.

Put Manny Sanguillen in!

Admit it, he still looks good in uniform.
And it would help matters if the Pirates actually were playing someone who remembers what it was like to play on a Pirates team that posted a winning record.

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Degrees of Mike Morgan - My latest for The Hardball Times

Has there ever been a crazier career filled with more contradictions than the one Mike Morgan had? The answer is "no."

What other player was a high school player brought up too soon... and a wily veteran playing longer than anyone could have thought?

Who else looked like the poster child of unfulfilled talent... only to become an All Star, a millionaire many times over and a World Series champ?

He played along side Hall of Famers, Cy Young winners, MVPs and for some of the greatest managers of all time... all the while bouncing from team to team between 1978 and 2002.

It was a wonderfully nutty career worth celebrating.

And I do so on The Hardball Times.

Read the article HERE.